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Brentford F.C.

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Brentford
File:Brentford.gif
Full nameBrentford Football Club
Nickname(s)The Bees
Founded1889
GroundGriffin Park
Brentford, London
Capacity12,763
ChairmanEngland Greg Dyke
ManagerEngland Terry Butcher
LeagueLeague Two
2006 – 07League One, 24th
(relegated)

Brentford Football Club are an English football club based in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow. They are currently playing in Football League Two. They were founded in 1889 and play their home games at Griffin Park, their home stadium since 1904. Brentford's most successful spell came during the 1930s, when they achieved consecutive top six finishes in the First Division. Since the War, they have spent most of their time in the third and fourth tiers of English football. Brentford have been FA Cup quarter-finalists on four occasions, and have twice been Football League Trophy runners-up.

History

Foundation to 1939

Founded in 1889 to serve as a winter pursuit for the Brentford Rowing Club, the club spent its early years in the lower divisions of the Football League and achieved little of note, save for a move to its present day home ground, Griffin Park, in 1904. In 1921, it was a founder member of the Third Division South. During the late 1920s and 1930s, the club began to make real progress. In the 1929-30 season, the side won all 21 of its home matches in the Third Division South (a record which still stands in English football), but still missed out on promotion. After several more near-misses, promotion to the Second Division was finally achieved in 1932-33. Two years later, Brentford reached the First Division and finished 5th in its debut season - which is still the club's highest ever league position - to complete a remarkable rise for the club. Brentford achieved more impressive placings in the league for the rest of the decade (6th in the following two seasons) before the Second World War interrupted.

1945-1989

During the war, Brentford competed in the London War Cup, losing in the 1941 final at Wembley Stadium to Reading and winning in the final against Portsmouth a year later. The club was relegated in the first season after the War, and a downward spiral set in, which culminated in relegation to the Third Division in 1953-54 and the Fourth Division in 1961-62. The survival of Brentford FC was threatened by a projected takeover by Queens Park Rangers in the late 1960s - a bid that was only narrowly averted with an emergency loan of £104,000 - while the club continued to yo-yo between the third and fourth divisions during the next three decades. The club won promotion in 1962-63, 1971-72 and 1977-78 but only on the final occasion was it able to consolidate its place in English football's third tier. Other bright spots in this period included reaching the final of the Freight Rover Trophy at Wembley in 1985, where it lost to Wigan, and a run to the FA Cup quarter-finals in 1989 which included wins over three higher-division sides and was only ended by the reigning league champions Liverpool.

1990 to present

After a 45-year absence, Brentford were promoted back to the Second Division (renamed the First Division with the advent of the Premier League in 1992) in the 1991-92 season as Third Division champions, though they were relegated again the following year.

There followed several seasons of the club narrowly missing out on promotion. Former Chelsea FA Cup hero David Webb was appointed manager in 1993 and twice led the side into the play-offs. In 1996-97 he led them to the play-off final at Wembley, but the side were beaten by Crewe Alexandra. The club were then relegated to the Third Division (by then the bottom division of the Football League) the following year. Brentford won promotion as champions again in 1998-99 under manager and chairman Ron Noades.

The club suffered more promotion agony in 2002 under manager Steve Coppell as they lost out to Stoke City in the play-off final having been just minutes away from automatic promotion on the final day of the season, and again under manager Martin Allen in 2004-05, on that occasion losing 3-1 on aggregate to Sheffield Wednesday in the semi-finals after finishing 4th in League One.

Former BBC Director-General and Bees fan Greg Dyke was announced as chairman of Brentford on 20 January 2006 as part of the takeover by Bees United, the Brentford Supporters Trust. On 28 January 2006, Brentford beat Premier League strugglers Sunderland 2-1 in the 4th Round of the FA Cup, but lost 3-1 to another Premier League club Charlton Athletic in the 5th Round. Brentford finished 3rd in the league and lost to Swansea City in the play-off semi-final.

On 30 May 2006 Allen announced his resignation as manager of Brentford[1] and the club named Leroy Rosenior as his successor on 14 June 2006. On 18 November 2006, following a run of 16 matches without a win - leaving the side in the relegation zone - Rosenior was sacked as manager, after the team lost 4-0 at home to Crewe. Following Rosenior's departure, youth team coach Scott Fitzgerald was appointed manager on a full-time basis on 21 December 2006 with Alan Reeves acting as his assistant.[2] Fitzgerald was unable to turn around the club's fortunes, and Brentford were relegated to Football League Two in April 2007. Fitzgerald left the day following confirmation of Brentford's relegation, with youth team manager Barry Quin due to act as caretaker in the managerial role until the end of the season.[3]

On 18 April 2007, The Sun newspaper reported that Micky Adams was in line to return as manager, nine years after being sacked following relegation. Instead, former England captain Terry Butcher was appointed as manager on April 24. Butcher's assistant is former Brentford winger Andy Scott, who was appointed on May 9, 2007.

Stadium

Brentford have played at Griffin Park since 1904, but since the late 1990s have been considering relocation. Plans were announced in October 2002 for a new 18,000-20,000-seat stadium at a state-of-the-art arena complex in Lionel Road, Brentford. It was announced at a fans forum that a bid had been made for the site although a reply hasn't been given. The ground is unique in British football in that there is a pub in each corner of Griffin Park, one of which is owned by the club.

In 2007 The Ealing Road end of the ground has had a roof installed after a grant by the Football Trust and makes all 4 stands of the ground covered. The Ealing Road remains a terrace but has been "given back" to home supporters and was re-opened for the first game of the season of the 2007/2008 season on Saturday 9th August 2007 against Mansfield Town.

Current first-team squad

As of October 29 2007: Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK England ENG Simon Brown
2 DF Ireland EIR Kevin O'Connor
3 DF Republic of Ireland IRL Lewis Emanuel
4 MF England ENG Sammy Moore (on loan from Ipswich)
5 DF England ENG John Mackie (captain)
7 MF England ENG Gary Smith
8 DF England ENG Craig Pead
9 FW England ENG Lee Thorpe
10 FW England ENG Alan Connell
11 MF England ENG Glenn Poole
12 MF England ENG John Mousinho
No. Pos. Nation Player
14 DF England ENG Sam Tillen
15 DF England ENG Matthew Heywood
16 FW England ENG Charlie Ide
18 DF England ENG Darius Charles
21 GK England ENG Clark Masters
22 DF England ENG Karleigh Osborne
23 FW England ENG Ross Montague
25 DF Poland POL Ben Starosta (on loan from Sheffield United)
26 DF England ENG Adrian Pettigrew (on loan from Chelsea)
28 GK England ENG Seb Brown
29 MF Trinidad and Tobago TRI Ricky Shakes

Players out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
17 MF England ENG Karle Carder-Andrews (at Margate)
20 MF England ENG Ryan Peters (at Margate)
24 MF England ENG Lewis Dark (at Farnborough Town)

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Managers

As of October 6, 2007. Only competitive matches are counted.

Name Nat From To Record
P W D L Win %
William Lewis England August 1900 May 1903
Dick Molyneux England August 1903 May 1906
W G Brown England August 1906 May 1908
Fred Halliday England August 1908 May 1912
Ephraim Rhodes England August 1912 May 1915
Fred Halliday England August 1915 August 1921
Archie Mitchell England August 1921 December 1922 60 22 13 25 37
Fred Halliday England December 1924 May 1926 68 22 12 34 32
Harry Curtis England May 1926 February 1949 705 305 157 243 43
Jackie Gibbons England February 1949 August 1952 150 53 40 57 35
Jimmy Bain England August 1952 January 1953 23 7 5 11 30
Tommy Lawton England January 1953 September 1953 33 8 10 15 24
Bill Dodgin, Sr. England October 1953 May 1957 182 65 57 60 36
Malcolm MacDonald Scotland May 1957 January 1965 379 160 94 125 42
Tommy Cavanagh England January 1965 March 1966 46 16 10 20 35
Billy Gray England 1 August 1966 30 August 1967 48 19 13 16 40
Jimmy Sirrel England 1 September 1967 30 November 1969 111 45 26 40 41
Frank Blunstone England 1 December 1969 11 July 1973 164 67 35 62 41
Mike Everitt England 1 September 1973 15 January 1975 70 21 22 27 30
John Docherty Scotland 20 January 1975 7 September 1976 69 23 20 26 33
Bill Dodgin, Jr. England 16 September 1976 1 March 1980 166 71 35 60 43
Fred Callaghan England 1 March 1980 2 February 1984 176 59 52 65 32
Frank Blunstone England 2 February 1984 9 February 1984 1 0 0 1 0
Frank McLintock Scotland 9 February 1984 1 January 1987 151 51 43 57 34
Steve Perryman England 1 January 1987 15 August 1990 182 71 48 63 39
Phil Holder England 24 August 1990 11 May 1993 158 66 33 59 41
David Webb England 17 May 1993 4 August 1997 216 85 65 66 39
Eddie May England 5 August 1997 5 November 1997 20 5 5 10 25
Micky Adams England 5 November 1997 1 July 1998 33 7 15 11 21
Ron Noades England 1 July 1998 20 November 2000 130 51 33 46 39
Ray Lewington England 20 November 2000 7 May 2001 37 14 11 12 38
Steve Coppell England 8 May 2001 5 June 2002 54 27 12 15 50
Wally Downes England 28 June 2002 14 March 2004 97 29 22 46 30
Martin Allen England 18 March 2004 30 May 2006 124 54 36 34 44
Leroy Rosenior England 14 June 2006 18 November 2006 23 3 10 10 13
Scott Fitzgerald Republic of Ireland 18 November 2006 9 April 2007 24 4 5 15 17
Terry Butcher England 7 May 2007 Present 12 3 2 7 25

Notable players

See also:Category:Brentford F.C. players - a list of all Brentford F.C. players with a Wikipedia article.

Famous former players include:

Honours

Mascot

Brentford FC's mascot is the ever-smiling Buzz Bee. Standing at 6 feet tall, he has black and yellow stripes and wears a Brentford FC club strip. He circles the ground before each game, and is a great hit with the kids who come to watch the matches.

Club Song

In 1993 the band One Touch To Go recorded the song Red On White for the team. The track can be found on the album Greatest Hiss 1983/1999. The song has been played at the ground till at least 2002. And more recently the fans have adopted "Hey Jude" by The Beatles as the club tune, also the name of one of the club fanzines. In 2001 Status Quo bassist John 'Rhino' Edwards recorded a track called Brentford's Big Day Out after the Bees reached the final of the LDV Trophy at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff.

Trivia

Club records

References

  1. ^ "Allen resigns from Bees". skysports.com. 2006-06-30. Retrieved 2006-11-18. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ "Rosenior sacked as Brentford boss". BBC Sport. 2006-11-18. Retrieved 2006-11-19. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ "Boss Fitzgerald leaves Brentford". BBC Sport. 2007-04-10. Retrieved 2007-04-10.

See Also

External links

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